First Recruitment Grants in Elevating the Safety Net Initiative to Combat Physician Shortage
LOS ANGELES — L.A. Care Health Plan, the largest publicly-operated health plan in the country, has announced the first round of Provider Recruitment Program grants as part of its Elevating the Safety Net initiative. The mission of the $31 million initiative is to recruit highly-qualified primary care physicians to the Los Angeles County safety net. The safety net is comprised of health care providers who offer access to care regardless of a patient's ability to pay, and whose patient population includes a substantial share of the Medicaid population and the uninsured.
Part of our mission at L.A. Care is to support the safety net, and with estimates that California will face a shortage of nearly 9,000 primary care physicians by 2030, we were compelled to act. The Provider Recruitment Program is a vital step in protecting patient care now and in the future.
--John Baackes
CEO, L.A. Care
The Provider Recruitment Program, one of three programs in the initiative, sent grant award letters to 29 clinics and practices. Each was approved for $125,000 to be used for salary subsidies, sign-on bonuses, and/or relocation costs for new primary care physicians recruited into the safety net. The awardees must hire a physician new to the L.A. Care Medi-Cal network no later than June 30, 2019, to receive the award funds.
The third grantmaking cycle is currently open until March 7, 2019. Please visit the Provider Recruitment Program page to review the Request for Applications.
Awardees
All for Health, Health for All, Montrose
AltaMed Health Services Corp., South Gate
Angeles Community Health Center, Los Angeles
APLA Health, Long Beach/Los Angeles
Bartz-Altadonna Community Health Center, Lancaster
Center for Family Health and Education, Inc., Panorama City
Community Health Alliance of Pasadena, El Monte
Comprehensive Community Health Centers, Sunland
Eisner Health, Los Angeles, Los Angeles
Family Care Specialists Medical Group, Inc, Los Angeles
Garfield Health Center, Monterey Park
Harbor Community Clinic, San Pedro
Kheir Center, Los Angeles
L.A. Christian Health Centers, Los Angeles
Los Angeles Community Clinic, Los Angeles
Northeast Valley Health Corporation, Santa Clarita
QueensCare Health Centers, Los Angeles
San Fernando Community Health Center, San Fernando/Mission Hills
South Bay Family Health Care, Gardena
South Central Family Health Center, Los Angeles
Southern California Medical Center, El Monte
St. John’s Well Child and Family Center, Los Angeles
The Achievable Foundation, Culver City
The Children’s Clinic, Long Beach
Uptimum Medical Group, Inglewood
Valley Community Healthcare, North Hollywood
Venice Family Clinic, Venice
Anthony Cardillo, MD, Sherman Oaks
Saman Ghalili, MD, Los Angeles
Newly recruited physicians to the safety net are eligible for the Physician Loan Repayment Program, another part of Elevating the Safety Net. Under the program, loan repayments of up to $5,000 per month for up to 36 months will be provided to the new recruits, as long as they continue to work within the safety net. So far, eight physicians have been awarded loan repayment grants.
The third part of the initiative is the Scholarship Program. L.A. Care awarded eight full medical school scholarships when the initiative launched last July. Eight more will be awarded later this year. Four of the scholarships are for students attending the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and four are for those attending the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science.